Jehovah's Witnesses Plan Two-day Church-raising

October 03, 1985|The Morning Call

Talk about do-it-yourself jobs! Members of the Quakertown congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, along with about 1,000 skilled craftsmen from congregations in central and eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey, will flock to a site just east of Quakertown tomorrow to build a new place of worship.

By Saturday night the Kingdom Hall, as those who belong to the denomination refer to it, is scheduled to be completed off Route 313 at Thatcher Road in Richland Township, with the first services to be held Sunday morning.

Congregation member Robert Malone said, "We'd like to get the work done as quickly as possible."

While the idea of constructing a new building through the massive organized efforts of the church members in two days may seem a bit unusual, it is one that is gaining popularity within the Jehovah's Witness faith.

"It's hard to say how many have been built this way," Malone said. "It numbers in the hundreds, though."

Malone, one of three members of the Quakertown Jehovah's Witnesses' building committee overseeing the project, said the recently developed form of construction is "far superior" to more conventional building methods, which are more costly and "aggravating" as the work drags on for months.

In addition, because all the man-hours are contributed by volunteers, it holds the costs down. In the case of the new Quakertown Kingdom Hall, the building will carry only a $60,000 mortgage.

Since members of the Quakertown Jehovah's Witnesses have already helped other congregations build their new places of worship on similar projects, it's appropriate that now, when they are building a new home, their brethren would come to their aid.

The do-it-yourself movement has grown significantly since its inception two years ago. It is at the point where the names of Jehovah's Witnesses with a mastery of skills in any of the varied crafts needed to construct a building are entered into a computer.

When the time comes for a local congregation to build a new Kingdom Hall, Malone said, "The computer spews out the names of those involved in past projects."

Letters are sent out asking for assistance, and a work force is assembled for the project.

Malone explained that because congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses are networked nationwide, "it's much easier for us to unifythan others trying to accomplish the same thing."

"There's a tremendous amount of organization needed. It really takes unity," he said.

A concrete foundation was laid about three weeks ago, and yesterday the site was being prepared by about 30 workers for the Herculean effort to be undertaken this weekend.

A large tent was assembled where workers will be fed - itself a large task requiring several portable kitchens that are already in place on the 11-acre tract.

The Kingdom Hall will be one story high, measuring 45 feet by 95 feet, and will be finished in a brick veneer. It will house an auditorium designed to seat 200 people with additional room for up to 250 people. It will also include a library, classroom, changing room and a mechanical room.

Malone said he hopes the weather cooperates in the endeavor by being "not too warm. Sunny skies would be nice and not too much wind."

If it does rain, he said, "We'll go right ahead. In fact, two of the men on the (regional) operating committee organizing this have done many projects in the rain. As long as it's not a hurricane."